Chapter 3: freaking' out
"Toad we're home!" Fred called out as Lance, Pietro and Fred came home "Ya feeling any better?" Toad didn't reply, Pietro zipped through the kitchen and living room and then zipped back to Lance.
"Nope…maybe he's upstairs?"
"This is weird, Toad usually glomps people at the door when he answers it" Lance said "Hope he's okay…"
"Nah the little twerp probably fell asleep in his room or something" Pietro laughed "Com'on! First one to get there gets to flip him out of his bed!"
The door was locked and there was no reply, Fred knocked on it.
"Hey Toad ya in there?" Fred called, they heard something shuffle and move in the room.
"Toad stop being a spaz and let us in, Lance and Blob are getting their pants in a knot worrying about you!" Pietro called.
"Sorry…I'm fine…I…I…just sleepy" Toad mumbled.
"Come on Toad let us in we just want to see if you're okay" Fred said gently.
"NO!" Toad yelped "I…I mean…err…I'm fine really" he groaned and suddenly there was a thump as something solid crumpled to the floor. Fred had had enough and bashed the door down, Toad was curled up in the corner of the room trembling he had wrapped himself up in his blanket and was trying to get up.
"Toad…what's the matter?" Lance asked nervously he knelt down to get him and Toad jerked away.
"Please…d…don't touch me" he whimpered but Lance reached forward and put his hand on his forehead, it was hot and clammy with sweat.
"Dude you're burning up, come on let's get you into bed and outta that quilt" Lance said Toad wiggled away clutching the blanket to himself.
"No…" he whimpered.
"Com'on ya pest let us help" Fred offered.
"Ya can't help yo!" Toad cried "Not unless you know how to stop me changin'"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Lance demanded.
"Pietro was right…that stuff is turning me into a monster" Toad whimpered and then buried his head in the blanket "I'm scared" he wept and began to sob.
"Aww please Toad you know I was just pulling your leg!" Pietro laughed and reached forward "Now stop being a prick and…"
"Don't touch me!" Toad howled and tried to leap away, but Pietro had grabbed his blanket and it came away from Toad's body as he fell to the floor. The others stopped and stared at Toad's hands.
"Todd…" Lance gasped "W…what?"
"I don't wanna be a monster!" Toad cried and covered his face with his arms and curled up on the floor as he wept. Fred knelt down next to him and pulled him up to sitting.
"Okay…when did this happen?" Lance asked gently, he could see that Toad was obviously freaked by this and he was trying his best not to scare him any more.
"After I came home from school" Toad whispered "What's happening to me yo? This is freaky even for me!"
"I don't know but we're going to get help" Lance assured and Pietro laughed coldly.
"How? We can't exactly take him to a hospital can we? What if people get the idea that this is a disease or something? People will wig out even more!" he shrieked.
"We gotta do something!" Fred cried "I've never seen him like this!"
"Oh man everything hurts" Toad moaned closing his eyes "I feel like my insides are on fire" Toad went limp and Fred shook him.
"Toad don't go to sleep man try and stay awake"
"It really hurts…" he whispered and then past out.
"We've got to get him to the Institute" Lance declared "They're the only people who have any idea how to treat mutants"
"They're our enemy!" Pietro shouted.
"I don't care! We're one Toad down and I doubt any of us have a clue what's happening to him but I'll wager my jeep they at least have some idea of a cure" Lance exclaimed sternly "Fred get Todd in the jeep and cover him up, we don't want anyone seeing him" he demanded and Fred picked Toad up gently picking up his blanket as he did, Lance then looked at Pietro as if asking what he was going to do to help.
"Well I'm coming too, if he dies who else will hold up the aerial?"
Kitty was walking through to the main living room when she heard car tyres screech and churn up the gravel, she stared out the window to see Lance's jeep do a sudden brake and swerve to a stop. Lance leapt out of the car and began to bang on the door.
"Lance what the heck…?" Kitty demanded when she opened the door.
"You've got to help, get the professor!" Lance cried.
"Whoa back up like what's going on?" she asked staring at Lance who looked really worried.
"It's Toad…I…I don't know I think he's dying" he stammered and Kitty looked over his shoulder to see Fred lift up a extremly ill looking Toadout of the jeep. "We were bringing him here and then suddenly he started to freak on us, shaking and coughing up blood and everything!"
"I'll get help" Kitty cried and ran off but the Professor and Hank Mcoy was already running up.
"Bring him through here hurry!" Xaviar declared, Fred rested Toad down on the medical bed and they began to work. The others could only stand back and listen and watch.
"Blood pressure through the roof, his temperture rising…his heart going rapid" Hank said holding Toad down and connecting him to machines, Toad suddenly went horribly limp.
"Prof is he gonna be alright?" Lance said.
"We'll have to see, can you tell what happened?" Xaviar said.
"he said Duncan made him swallow some Power8 stuff but that happened days ago" Fred explained.
"We'll have to do blood tests to make sure, are you sure there's nothing else? Has he eaten anything unusual?" Hank said.
"You're talking about a guy who eats bugs!" Pietro declared "Define 'unusual'?"
"Good point…" suddenly one of the machines started to beep urgently and Xaviar looked back. "I think it's best if you wait outside, Kitty will show you where you can sit down" as they walked out Fred looked back at Toad.
"Try and live through this buddy" he whispered.
It had been an hour and a half and three cold untouched mugs of tea sat on a table in front of the remaining Brotherhood, Lance sat leaning forward staring at the floor, Fred sat next to him fiddling with his little blue hankie-chief and Pietro was pacing back and forth in front of them.
Scott and Jean came home from school and walked past the three before stopping and doing a re-take of what they saw. They spun around and stared.
"What the hell are you three stooges doing here?" Scott growled Lance glanced at him and then went back to staring at the floor.
"Don't bother Summers we ain't here to fight" he mumbled.
"Oh?" Scott demanded "Why's that?"
"If you haven't notice Cyclops we're one Brotherhood member short and he's in there dying for all we know!" Pietro exclaimed jerking a thumb towards the door behind them.
"What?" Jean muttered and looked around "You mean Toad? Why what happened?"
"Your old boyfriend happened! He grabbed Todd and force fed him some Power8 and now it's done something to him" Fred said numbly.
Just then hank came through with a clipboard in his hands, Lance and Fred leapt up and looked at him.
"Well…he's stable for the moment and right now he's awake you can go see him in a minute" he said.
"So what's wrong with him?" Fred asked.
"That we don't know we're going to do blood tests but I need to extract some blood" Hank said "I'm going to need your help with that"
"Why?" Lance asked.
"Toad scared of needles he freaks just by seeing one" Fred muttered as they went in Toad was lying in the bed looking frightened as he watched them come in.
"Hey Toad, listen the doc needs to get some blood for tests and for that he needs to use a needle…you okay with that?" Lance said gently, Toad shook his head.
"How about this, just look away while he does it okay?" Toad looked at him and then hugged his pillow, Hank injected the needle and Toad flinched burying his head into the pillow. Within minutes dark red liquid filled the syringe and Hank took it out.
"There that didn't hurt did it?" he said gently, Toad didn't say anything.
"Toad?" Fred asked.
"I don't wanna turn into a monster" came the muffled whimper from the pillow, Fred pat him on the back softly.
"No one is saying that" he said "hey for all we know this might be a part of your mutation or something"
"Well whatever it is Todd will have to stay here for a while for observation" Xaviar explained, Toad stared at him.
"What! On my own!" he yelped.
"If you like one of you could stay here with him for support" Hank offered and Fred held up his hand.
"I will"
"Why you?" Pietro demanded.
"Think about these guys don't trusts us as it is, Toad needs us and I'm the one least likely to be found sneaking around the mansion" Fred explained "I'll stay here and you two go home in case Magento or someone comes"
"Wow good thinking Blob" Peitro declared.
"hey I have my moments" Fred smiled.
With that Lance and Pietro left on the promise they'd be back in the morning to check up, as soon as they left Toad looked at Fred as he laid back on the chair next to the bed.
"Thanks" Toad whispered.
"Bed too soft for you?" Fred chuckled.
"Nah can barely feel anything…it's like y'know…everything is distant" he muttered.
"Hey Toad you see any bright lights at the end of any tunnels you stay the hell away from em kapeesh?" Fred demanded sternly and Toad chuckled weakly.
"Besides I bought you something" Fred said reaching into his pocket "Don't worry I didn't let Pietro or Lance see him" he assured and with that pulled out Toad's tattered old plush frog, Toad took him and held him close.
"You look like you need all the comfort you can get"
"Thanks blob for being here an' all" Toad mumbled and with that fell asleep, Fred watched him silently into the early hours before he too succume to sleep.